Tag Archives: democratic socialist

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DNC did not conspire to torpedo Bernie’s bid for POTUS

I do not believe in conspiracy theories.

Therefore, I do not believe the Democratic National Committee conspired to deny U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders the party’s presidential nomination for this year’s election.

What undercut Sanders’ bid to run against Donald John Trump was the quality of the ideas he was espousing. Sanders is an admirable man in many ways, but his far-left political platform was too far out of the mainstream for most Democratic primary voters to swallow.

That’s it, man! Medicare for all didn’t fly because it’s too expensive; nor did free college education; nor did his notion of vast wealth redistribution. Yes, he appealed to younger voters who became attracted to his tuition-free college education plan. They constitute a fraction of the total voting population.

Sanders had to surrender his bid for the party nomination because he lagged too far behind the guy who so far has gathered far more convention delegates, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

I happen to be a firm believer in the value of the “marketplace of ideas.” Biden’s ideas, which tilt more toward the middle, are more to the liking of Democratic primary voters. He wants to enhance and expand the Affordable Care Act rather than providing Medicare for all Americans; Biden believes granting free college education to every student in the country is too expensive; and he won’t buy into the wealth redistribution notion that Sanders has sought for as long as he has served in the U.S. Senate.

Conspiracy? I don’t think so. The former vice president’s ideas play better to a broader audience that those of the “democratic socialist.”

Let’s cool it with the conspiracy nonsense. That means you, too, Donald Trump.

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Now … what about Bernie’s political future?

It seems oddly petty to talk about U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ next big political decision while Americans are fighting hammer and tong against the coronavirus pandemic that has sickened many thousands of us.

Still, I have to ask: Why doesn’t Sen. Sanders call it a campaign, step aside, cede the Democratic Party presidential nomination to Joseph R. Biden Jr., endorse the former vice president … and then make good on his pledge to do all he can to defeat Donald John Trump?

Sanders cannot win his party’s nomination. Biden has too many more convention delegates lined up than Sanders. It is impossible now for Sanders to catch up.

His campaign insists that Sanders is staying in, yet we hear of reports that the senator is “assessing” the status of his campaign. He can assess all he wants, but many of us already has issued our own assessment, which is that the fight is over.

Sanders fought hard. He has argued, with some justification, that he has won the argument over ideology. Biden has drifted a little to the left, but he’s nowhere near where Sanders is perched on the far-left end of the Democrats’ ideological ledge. That’s more than all right with me. I want a centrist to take on Donald Trump, not a candidate who calls himself a “democratic socialist” and who would be smothered by a Trump slime machine.

I don’t know what Sanders hopes to accomplish by staying in the fight. I do know what he has said is his No.  goal, which is to defeat Donald Trump. Where I come from, it looks like the better way to fulfill that mission is to bow out and line up alongside the candidate who can lead that fight.

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Bernie is waging a ‘class warfare’ campaign

Bernie Sanders and his political allies seem to take pleasure in accusing Donald John Trump of separating Americans by class, that the president favors the rich over the poor, given the nature — they say — of the tax cuts that Congress enacted.

But … wait!

The Vermont independent U.S. senator who is competing for the Democratic presidential nomination is waging a class warfare campaign of his very own.

Listen to him. He blasts billionaires, accusing them of trying to “buy” the presidency. He says — with justification, I should add — that his campaign is being funded by non-billionaires, that he is soliciting small- to medium-sized contributions from regular folks.

Sanders vows to govern on behalf of the “average American” wage earner he is elected president of the United States near the of the year.

There’s plenty I do not like about Sanders. I oppose his Medicare for All mantra; I believe his pledge to give every American college student a free education is unrealistic; I am much more of a capitalist than a “democratic socialist.”

I also am wearing of hearing him invoke his demonization of wealthy Americans, of weaving the scolding lecture into virtually every answer he delivers to every question he receives.

Sen. Sanders is waging a class war while at the same time vowing to “unify” the nation he wants to govern. Just how does he do both things at once?

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Baffled by Bernie’s big bounce

I don’t know a lot of things, so perhaps this isn’t a serious flash.

What in the world is fueling this reported “surge” by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is campaigning for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination?

Sanders reportedly is leading in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and is getting competitive in South Carolina.

His fans love him. They say he can beat Donald John Trump, the nation’s current president if he gets the chance to run against him head to head this fall.

Oh, he also wants to give universal health care for every American, he wants to provide free college education for every college student in the country, he wants to redistribute the nation’s wealth.

How is he going to do all that with a budget that’s running a trillion bucks in the red this year alone!

Trump will hang the “socialist” tag on him, which Sanders won’t deny, given that he calls himself a “democratic socialist.”

My major interest in this upcoming election is to defeat Donald Trump. I do not want him re-elected to a second term. Sanders might be able to gin up crowd fervor at his rallies; but then again, so does Trump.

I do not believe the Democrats’ path to victory against Trump should take them down the far-left lane. I continue to favor a more centrist approach to governance. I want the next president to be able to reach across the aisle to work with Republicans. Does anyone really believe deep in their heart of hearts that Bernie Sanders is the guy who can do that?

Yet the democratic socialist continues to “surge”? Go figure.